Stubborn Love: Lost In The Amazon (Sonadow)

What Have I Done?

Shadow opened his eyes once more to a bright white light shining down on him. He shielded his eyes until they adjusted to the world of the living, only then realizing it wasn't a white light, but rather light reflecting off of white walls that surrounded him.

The sound of heart rate monitors and bustling people outside, and the fact that he was hooked up to said heart rate monitor, with an IV drip and a breathing mask on him as well, let Shadow know that he was in a hospital.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.”

Recognizing the voice, Shadow looked over to his right and smiled when he saw Rouge sitting beside him.

“Hey,” He croaked out from behind the mask. “How long have I been out?”

“Since yesterday,” Rouge answered. “You passed out as soon as we started walking. We got to the hospital sometime around noon yesterday.”

Shadow slowly nodded, understanding his tiredness. Hell, he and Sonic had been walking through the rainforest for over 3 weeks.

At the thought of Sonic, Shadow suddenly sat up, startled with panic in his eyes.

“Wait, where's Sonic?!” He gasped, searching around frantically for his blue love, but all he saw was Rouge, white walls, and a peculiar curtain to his left.

“Lie down and relax, Shadow.” Rouge smiled warmly, gently pushing her friend back onto the mattress. “He's fine. He's right beside you, behind the curtain. Can't you hear him?”

At Rouge's words, Shadow strained his ears to listen, only now noticing a second set of heartbeats and the sound of breathing coming from behind the curtain. If he listened more closely, he could also hear another set of breaths, ragged and animalistic.

“Casew's with him, isn't she?”

“The dog?” Rouge chuckled. “Yeah, she's with him. Doctors had a hard time trying to get her out of the room. She wouldn't leave either one of you, and she actually snapped at them, so they just let her stay, she seems smart enough to not jump onto the beds or mess with the wires.”

“That's good.” Shadow chuckled before looking at the curtain again. “Casew. Casew, girl.”

With a whimpering whine, Casew stood up from her spot on the floor next to Sonic's bed and pawed out from behind the curtain, looking at Shadow with excitement in her brown eyes. Shadow chuckled when he noticed that she was much cleaner, her white fur sleek and shiny.

“I decided to give her a bath.” Rouge explained. “She was filthy, and I had a reckon you would want to keep her, considering you already named her.”

“Actually, Casew is just Indian for Dog,” Shadow explained. “But… you're right. She saved our lives. I was ready to give up hope of ever being saved… until she came. She was my sign of hope. No… she was our sign of hope, even if he was already unconscious when she came. She's a friend and a lifesaver. She's a good girl.”

At every word, Casew's tail wagged faster and faster until it was just a blur behind her. She really was a good girl. Shadow snickered and turned back to Rouge.

“How's Sonic doing?”

Rouge's face suddenly went very solemn. She sighed and stood up before going over to the curtain and pulling it aside, allowing the ebony hedgehog to lay his first glance upon the blue hedgehog since he woke up. Shadow gasped at the sight before him.

Sonic was still completely comatose. His fur was clean and neatly brushed and trimmed, but the ceruleum blue it once had been had dulled to a lifeless midnight blue, his yellowing peach skin making a stark contrast against it. His broken ankle was properly bandaged and slightly raised up in a hanging cast hooked up to the ceiling. A heart rate monitor, as well as an IV drip was hooked up to him, and two different tubes were shoved down his throat, one for breathing, and one for feeding. The breathing machine pumped in rhythm, making Sonic's chest gently rise and fall with each manual breath. When Shadow looked down to the side of Sonic's bed, he also noticed a catheter hooked up to the side.

Shadow breathed a shaking breath at the sight.

“Dear Lord Chaos.”

Feeling that her friend has seen enough, Rouge closed to curtain once more, saving Shadow from staring any further.

“The others are on their way,” She explained. “They should be here shortly and when they get here, I want them to be prepared for what they're gonna see, so I'm gonna go out and wait for them. You rest up. I'll be back shortly with the others.”

“... Ok.” Shadow quietly nodded, unable to look away from the curtain, knowing what was on the other side.

Rouge sighed and turned away, exiting out of the room to wait in the lobby for their other friends. Shadow finally brought himself to turn away from the curtain and lay back down, allowing his hand to hang off the side of the bed to let Casew lick and nuzzle it. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes as the image of his boyfriend laying in the hospital bed kept playing over and over in his mind. And as he continued to imagine it, his thoughts could only think of one thing.

The rapids.

“Alright then hedgehog, time to get back up and running.” He said as he started climbing back onto the boat.

“Umm…” Sonic hesitated, looking back from the boat and to the rapids behind. “Don't you think we should pull the canoe a little further away from the rapids?”

“Nonsense.” Shadow shook his head. “We're far enough away that we can paddle away from them. Nothing to worry about. Now get up here.”

Sonic sighed and climbed back onto the boat with Shadow, grabbing his paddle as Shadow did the same, a heavy feeling unable to leave his stomach.

Shadow groaned and covered his face with his hands, sobbing into his gloves.

This was all his fault.

Sonic said that they should pull the boat a little further away, but noooooo. Instead, Shadow had to be a naive ignorant jackass, too excited to get the mission over and done with to be as cautious as he should've been.

If only he had listened… this never would've happened.

“What have I done?”